Concentric Hearts
by Tasogare-Taichou
Summary: IchigoxRukia. The thing about concentricity is that no matter how wide the range, the center is always the same.


Concentric Hearts

Fandom: Bleach

Pairing: IchiRuki

Rating: PG

Summary: What makes something concentric? The constant rotation about one central point, no matter how wide the radius gets. A songfic, set to Colin Raye's _Not That Different_.

_She said we're much too different...  
We're from two seperate worlds..._

Perhaps a part of him had always known this day would come. And in a way... he'd never expected it to be any different. Standing there, the rain beating down against the windowpane and cast into sharp relief by the flashing of the lightning that seemed to mirror the torment rushing through his soul. Violet eyes stared back at brown, amethyst depths unreadable. They were always unreadable, especially when she wanted them to be. Others might have disagreed, might have argued that he had to be able to read the wealth of emotions that surged just beneath the surface of Kuchiki Rukia's eyes, simply given the closeness of their relationship. But that wasn't why -- at least, not as Ichigo saw it. It had nothing to do with her eyes, it was... something more.

And he admitted, she was partly right.  
But in his heart's defense he told her…

It was her words that struck the hardest, carrying with them a truth that neither of them had wanted to face. The truth of their natures, their very _lives_. Shinigami. Human. Two worlds, two lives. Two lives that weren't meant to join together. That was what they were supposed to face, what they were supposed to realize, to understand. And maybe, on some level he did understand it. But that didn't mean he agreed with it.

What they had in common...  
Was strong enough to bond them for life.

They'd been through too much, faced too many hardships and i come through /i them for this to be the end. And that was why he'd argued with her, argued so hard, demanded to know why, why it wouldn't work, why they couldn't do this, face this as they'd faced so much else. For the first time since he could remember, perhaps the first time since his mother's death, Kurosaki Ichigo begged. He yelled and screamed and finally begged -- in his own way -- in a frantic attempt to keep the most important thing a part of his life. She couldn't go, he wouldn't let her. He'd find her, chase her, go after her and bring her back until she finally understood, until she finally admitted that she was wrong, that it wasn't the way things were supposed to go, that they were supposed to be _together_, not apart and in their separate worlds. But it had been in vain...

He said look behind your own soul  
And the person that you'll see...  
Just might remind you of me…

She hadn't fought back, hadn't yelled, hadn't... done all those things she was _supposed_ to do, all those things that reassured him that everything was alright, that things were the way they were supposed to. Because... they weren't. She was leaving, leaving this place, leaving _him_. And leaving his world in darkness. He'd watched as she simply shook her head, smiling that faint sad smile he always hated, the smile that said she was sorry, she didn't want to hurt him but she was giving up, giving up on this, on _them_. And then she'd turned away, stepped towards the open window as he'd tried desperately to show her, to tell her that it wasn't that way, that regardless of the differences, the similarities, the shared portions of their lives were more important. And then... she was gone. In a faint tinkling of bells and flutter of butterfly's wings, as though she'd never been there.

I laugh. I love. I hope. I try.  
I hurt. I need. I fear. I cry...  
And I know you do the same things too...  
So we're really not that different...  
Me and you.

The pain in his eyes had nearly been her undoing, threatening to spill her own tears as she stubbornly pushed them back, ignoring the pricking sensation at the corners of crinkled lids. The betrayal, the abandonment. And then the hurt and anger beyond that. Things she'd seen in his eyes before, but hoped to never cause again. And yet... here she was, causing him more pain.

Now she could hardly argue  
With his pure and simple logic  
But logic never could convince the heart.

His words had cut deep, deeper than she was willing to let him see. She _couldn't_ let him see, couldn't let him know how much she wanted to believe him, how much she wanted to shake off the shackles of her responsibilities and run to him and take his hand and fly away to a place where they could be together, where those forbidden dreams could be given life. And in a lot of ways... he was right. So different in so many ways, and yet they were so similar as well. And that was the most dangerous part of the entire thing. That, were circumstance and situation different, had fate dealt them another role... perhaps they could have achieved that elusive plateau of happiness that soared mere inches beyond their reach. Feelings and emotions... those never needed to be said, never needed to be explained. They simply _were_, the way the sky was, or the grass or trees or even the cold white marble of the Senzaikyuu where she'd been imprisoned.

_She had always dreamed of loving  
Someone more exotic  
And he just didn't seem to fit the part_.

He'd called after her as she left, voice ringing in the night, declaring that no matter what she said, no matter what she demanded of him, there was one thing that he could never -- _would_ never -- do. Forget. Let everything they had shared, the ripplings beneath the surface and the waves that shed so much light and yet left so much hidden, simply fade away into nothingness like so many sunsets they had shared.

So she searched for greener pastures,  
But never could forget  
what he whispered when she left…

They would go on, it was the only choice left to them both. He in his life, and her in her death, following the spiraling paths that separated them. Walking alone and isolated, others beside them but still always alone. She knew it, as did he, and no amount of wishing or hoping would stand to change that. And with every day, every week and month and year that followed, his words continued to ring in her ears, a constant reminder and a constant plea for her to challenge the rules, to bend the bars and take a leap of faith.

I laugh. I love. I hope. I try.  
I hurt. I need. I fear. I cry...  
And I know you do the same things too...  
So we're really not that different...  
Me and you.

And life moved on, as it always does, even when two souls are hung in the purgatory, frozen in time by circumstance and the simple fact that neither is complete without the other, that it is impossible to move forward when a part of yourself remains tied to the past.

Was it time?  
Was it truth?  
Maybe both led her back to his door.

The days turned into weeks, the weeks into years. Until one day, she found herself standing at a familiar doorway, hand upraised and trembling, hardly daring the courage to knock. Would he remember? Would he turn her away? Yell, scream, or simply dismiss her as a forgotten, cast-aside part of his life. And as her fist fell, knuckles curving towards the smooth wood, there was the click of the latch as the portal swung open to reveal a familiar head of orange hair. Stilling her trembling resolve, Rukia cast eyes upwards, taking in brown eyes and sharp features in a face that had lost it's boyishness and been hardened into the face of the man he had become.

And as her tears fell at his feet...  
She didn't say "I love you"  
What she said meant even more...

It took a long, agonizing moment before she drew a shaky breath, but that did nothing to provide her with words to tell him, to explain why after so many years, she'd come back. There was so much to be said, so much hovering in the balance. And... there was her pride to consider. Her vaunted, lofty, hardened pride that had sent her from his side so long ago, that had -- in all likelihood -- cost her the only chance she might have had. He was probably married now, happy and living his life without her.

_I laugh. I love. I hope. I try.  
I hurt. I need. I fear. I cry...  
And I know you do the same things too..._  
_So we're really not that different...  
Me and you._

But... it was the same words he'd told her when he'd still been a boy that compelled her feet to the stoop where they now stood, on trembling legs waiting for his answer. An answer that was given in the form of a smile that hadn't graced his face for nearly 10 years before his arms were drawing her into a tight embrace, hands coming up to cup her face as he pressed lips against hers in wordless acceptance.


End file.
